Ten...

The morning began with our weekly appointment at Children's Mercy, involving a lumbar puncture (extracting spinal fluid for testing and injecting chemo treatment), a bone marrow aspiration and various other treatments and bloods tests. Considering all that took place, Joella did wonderfully and actually slept during the lumbar puncture / bone marrow aspiration!

The good news of the day was that Joella's cytogenetics test results from last week (testing the genetics of the Leukemia cells) came back as "favorable", which means that her treatment will fall either in the low-risk or average-risk category. By the end of the "induction phase" of treatment we should be able to determine which specific group she falls into based on her response to the chemotherapy.

On the downside, Joella also had a fever, which meant at least 48 hours in the hospital. A few days ago Kerry mentioned the Absolute Neutrophil Count (ANC). This measurement has to do with the number of "neutrophil granulocytes" (a type of white blood cell) present in the blood, and it serves as an indicator for how well the body can fight off infections. For a healthy person, the normal level would be somewhere between 1500 to 2000. I imagine that certain conditions can bring this level down below 1500, such as lack of sleep or lack of adequate nutrition, but our bodies are well-equipped to constantly destroy germs and viruses that enter the bloodstream.

This morning Joella's ANC level was measured at 10, which explains why, despite our great efforts (and the efforts of many who came to our home and washed/disinfected everything they could find), Joella is simply going to be extremely susceptible to infections. We may see a lot of Children's Mercy these next few months...

Through all this, it has been so good to turn to the Bible and see immovable, eternal realities that do not depend on the moment-by-moment uncertainties that bombard us. May we all dig deeper and build our hope and faith on top of the immovable "Rock" (see Matthew 7:24), that we might be able to withstand the storms of life and endure to the glory of God.

"Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing. "

(James 1:2-4 ESV)